Friday, January 21, 2011

Pure glass half full Dickensian as we tape off two episodes of 19th century political wit and witticisms that completely puncture the idea at we are living in the most contentious times. For all the hard opinions and name calling, no one to date in the 21st century of such harsh times has called the President a "flubdub" or possessing a "backbone of a chocolate eclaire".

One concession to the modern era, we can certainly spread our caustic words further and faster. Yet, the Internet also gives us to the power to search out and find that while yes, the two sides are quite willing to spew invective at each other, none have accused the other of child beating, molestation or insinuated that sexual relations with native Americans (or other "races" deemed less than socially acceptable) disqualified individuals from consideration for the highest offices in the land.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

The archive for the Wednesday, Jan. 20, edition of We're History is on-line. In this episode, Bill and Kyle talk philosophy -- exactly what is history. Bill gives us the short version of what he tells his class before the start of each semester. There's the past, there's the history that got recorded and there's the History that we create.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

By the time we get this one out, surely the current president will have chosen his new White House press secretary. In recognition of the passing from the scene of Robert Gibbs, Kyle and I revisit some of the notables who have spoken for the president. They are a varied lot, ranging from old line journalists like Pierre Sallinger to old buddies like Jordie Powell to professional PR types like Dana Perino. Best if all, we remember the child wonder (no, not DeeDee Myers) Ron Nessen and the one-month press secretary Jerald terHorst.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

To start off the new semester, Kyle and I went into the studio to lay down five new bits. The first may air as early as tomorrow, appropriate since it is a little thought piece I use each semester with my NWACC students.

Humor me with my grand theory of the historical universe, but in giving my survey students tools to understand and interpret history I tell them there are three parts to history: the past, history (with a little h) and capital H History.

The past is what actually happened, the events and things that transpired in the time before this moment. We live the past. We experience the past. We remember our own little corner and perspectives of the past. But the past is gone once it happens, never to be seen again.

The little h history is what we recorded of the past. It is the photographs, the newspaper accounts, the original documents, the films, the first person accounts. History can never be as complete as the past, and it is only what survives the ravages of time and memory to be presented to those of us who dare to interpret what occurred in the past for those of us in the present; those of us who create and commit History.

Listen in tomorrow at KUAF for the rest of that story. I'll have the show archive link as soon as it's ready.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

In the late summer of 2010, the current president was being assailed from both sides of the political spectrum about his vacation habits. Turns out, some of the charges that Barak Obama was taking too much time off when compared to his predecessors was not supported by the historical record. It also gave Kyle and Bill a chance to look back at the impact on vacation time -- and vacation spots -- used by the American President.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

A sitter at the net from back in Oct. 19, 2010, as Kyle and Bill sit down to talk about what the historical trend was on mid-term elections. This was created in the midst of the chance for an "unprecedented" swing in the congress. The reality, of course, is almost every American President's party loses in the mid-terms. So the House swing in November came as no surprise to the We're History crew.